2018 DTM Season
2018 Hockenheim I |lastround = 2018 Hockenheim II |makers = Audi; BMW; Mercedes Benz |tyres = Hankook |image = |caption = Gary Paffett secured his second DTM crown in 2018. |drivechamp = Gary Paffett |natchamp = GBR |drivechamppts = 255 |driver2 = René Rast |driver2nat = GER |driver2pts = 251 |driver3 = Paul di Resta |driver3nat = SCO |driver3pts = 233 |previous = 2017 |next = 2019 |teamchamp = Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Petronas |teamchampnat = GER |team2nat = GER |team2 = Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Remus |team3nat = GER |team3 = Audi Sport Team Rosberg |teamchamppts = 363 |team2pts = 294 |team3pts = 278 |brandchamp = Mercedes-Benz |brandchampnat = GER |brand2nat = GER |brand2 = BMW |brand3nat = GER |brand3 = Audi |brandchamppts = 903 |brand2pts = 623 |brand3pts = 599}} The 2018 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Championship, otherwise abbreviated to the 2018 DTM Season, was the nineteenth edition of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, staged between May and October 2018.'Brands Hatch returns on 2018 DTM schedule', touringcartimes.com, (Touring Car Times, 18/12/2017), https://www.touringcartimes.com/2017/12/18/brands-hatch-returns-2018-dtm-schedule/, (Accessed 22/01/2019) The 2018 season would be a significant chapter in the revived DTM's history, for it was the last to feature V8 engines and a rulebook unique to the series. René Rast would start the 2018 campaign as the defending Champion, although he opted to keep #33 as his race number as he stuck with Audi and Team Rosberg. Likewise, Audi would start the season as the defending manufacturers Champions, while Team Rosberg campaigned as the reigning Teams Champions. 2018 would prove to be a year-long swansong for Mercedes-Benz, who announced that they would leave the series at the end of the season to focus on Formula E. They would duly win the opening race of the season courtesy of the efforts of Gary Paffett, before the Brit fought wheel-to-wheel with Timo Glock of BMW for the second race of the weekend, with the German ultimately emerging ahead. Paffett would go on to claim two more victories before the midway point of the season, with fellow Merc drivers Paul di Resta and Edoardo Mortara also claiming victories. Marco Wittmann, meanwhile, would collect two victories for BMW, while Audi and Rast had to wait until the second race at Zandvoort to claim their first victory of the season. However, the second half of the season would prove to be all about Rast, with the German ace claiming six consecutive victories as he made a late bid for the Championship. Unfortunately for him Paffett would do just enough to keep ahead of the charge to claim his second DTM crown, ending the season just four ahead of the German. It was a different story in the Teams and Manufacturers' Championships however, with Mercedes and HWA running out as comfortable winners in both. Indeed, it was to be a clean sweep for the three point star with Paffett claiming the Drivers' Championship, with all three elements moving to FE at the end of the season. Background Calendar The 2018 DTM calendar featured some interesting changes to the schedule penned for the 2017 season, with two new venues added to the calendar, while the races in Moscow were dropped. Indeed, in came a pair of night races at the Misano World Circuit, bringing the DTM back to Italy in late August, following a return to Brands Hatch in the UK earlier in the same month. Their inclusion hence resulted in a ten round/twenty race long calendar, with eight rounds carried over from 2017. Indeed, the season would start with the traditional curtain raiser staged at the Hockenheimring in early May, before a visit to the Lausitzring two weeks later. A trip to the Hungaroring followed, the first of five rounds outside of Germany, before the series headed back to home soil and the Norisring on the 23/24 June. The Circuit Park Zandvoort would then host its annual DTM races on the 14/15 July, before the two aforementioned rounds at Brands Hatch and Misano in August. September would see the Nürburgring take its turn at hosting the DTM, before the field conveined at the Red Bull Ring in Austria for the final non-German round of the season. With that the series would then head back to the Hockenheimring for the season finale, with the final race scheduled for the 14 October. Elsewhere there would be three tests across the season, one held at Hockenheim as a pre-season test, before two post-season tests at Estoril and the Circuito de Jerez in November and December respectively. The full calendar for the 2018 DTM Championship is outlined below: Regulations Technical Sporting There were no major revisions to the rules ahead of the 2018 DTM Championship, with same scoring system as used in 2017, including points for qualifying, adopted once again. Furthermore, each manufacturer was permitted a single "wildcard" entry for one round of the season, allowing them to run one additional driver albeit one who was ineligible to score points. The full points scoring system for the 2019 DTM campaign is outlined below: All of the DTM field in 2018 used tyres provided by Hankook, with no variation in compounds. Season Report Pre-season Round I: DTM Hockenheim Opening 2018 The 2018 DTM Championship would get underway at the series' traditional home of the Hockenheimring, with the first race of the season scheduled for the 5 May 2018. 'Race One' For the full race report, head to the 2018 Hockenheim I article. 'Race Two' For the full race report, head to the 2018 Hockenheim I article. Round II: DTM Lausitzring 2018 The EuroSpeedway Lausitz was to play host to the second round of the 2018 season, with the DTM switching to the full road course circuit last used by the series in 2004. 'Race Three' For the full race report, head to the DTM Lausitzring 2018 article. 'Race Four' For the full race report, head to the DTM Lausitzring 2018 article. Round III: DTM Hungaroring 2018 The first non-German race weekend of the season would see the DTM head to the Hungaroring near Budapest, Hungary, for the third pair of races of the season, conducted on the first weekend of June. 'Race Five' For the full race report, head to the DTM Hungaroring 2018 article. 'Race Six' For the full race report, head to the DTM Hungaroring 2018 article. Round IV: DTM Norisring 2018 Round four would see DTM's annual battle around the streets of the Norisring take place, with the visit to Nuremberg scheduled for the 23-24 June. 'Race Seven' For the full race report, head to the DTM Norisring 2018 article. 'Race Eight' For the full race report, head to the DTM Norisring 2018 article. Round V: DTM Zandvoort 2018 The dunes of the Circuit Park Zandvoort tempted the DTM Championship ahead of the mid-season break, with the Dutch circuit hosting its pair of races in mid-July, ahead of a six week summer layoff. 'Race Nine' For the full race report, head to the DTM Zandvoort 2018 article. 'Race Ten' For the full race report, head to the DTM Zandvoort 2018 article. Round VI: DTM Brands Hatch 2018 Brands Hatch returned for the sixth round of the 2018 campaign, with the DTM switching to the full Grand Prix circuit on the 11/12 August, having last used the Indy circuit in the UK back in 2013. 'Race Eleven' For the full race report, head to the DTM Brands Hatch 2018 article. 'Race Twelve' For the full race report, head to the DTM Brands Hatch 2018 article. Round VII: DTM Misano 2018 The Misano World Circuit would host its maiden DTM races on the 25 and 26 August 2018, with both races to be staged in darkness, along with the addition of four-time Paralympic Gold Medal winner Alex Zanardi racing as BMW's wildcard. 'Race Thirteen' For the full race report, head to the DTM Misano 2018 article. 'Race Fourteen' For the full race report, head to the DTM Misano 2018 article. Round VIII: DTM Nürburgring 2018 A familiar venue would serve as the eighth host of the 2018 season, with the Nürburgring hosting its usual pair of DTM races in early-September. 'Race Fifteen' For the full race report, head to the DTM Nürburgring 2018 article. 'Race Sixteen' For the full race report, head to the DTM Nürburgring 2018 article. Round IX: DTM Speilberg 2018 The Red Bull Ring would make its annual DTM appearance on the 22/23 September, with no changes made to the Austrian circuit, although there would be an additional "wildcard" entry by Mercedes for Sébastien Ogier. 'Race Seventeen' For the full race report, head to the DTM Spielberg 2018 article. 'Race Eighteen' For the full race report, head to the DTM Spielberg 2018 article. Round X: DTM Hockenheim Finale 2018 The 2018 campaign would come to its conclusion at the series' traditional home of the Hockenheimring as usual, with the twentieth and final Championship race set to be held on the 14 October 2019. 'Race Nineteen' For the full race report, head to the 2018 Hockenheim II article. 'Race Twenty' For the full race report, head to the 2018 Hockenheim II article. Entrants The full entry list for the 2018 DTM Championship is outlined below: *Numbers with a silver background indicate a "wildcard" entry. Standings 2018 DTM Championship for Drivers Outlined below are the Championship standings for the 2018 DTM Championship for Drivers: *'Bold' indicates a driver started from pole; Italics indicate a driver scored points in qualifying. 2018 DTM Championship for Teams Outlined below are the Championship standings for the 2018 DTM Championship for Teams: 2018 DTM Championship for Manufacturers Outlined below are the Championship standings for the 2018 DTM Championship for Manufacturers: References Videos and Images; * References: Category:DTM Seasons Category:2018 DTM Season